# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbDxyjdDKp1
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68186746-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/17a131c412.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-21T14:55:20.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Two actively merging sub-clusters, both alike in mass,⁣
In this young galaxy cluster we set our scene.⁣

A galaxy cluster is exactly what you'd think: a bunch of galaxies grouped together. This particular cluster has two sub-clusters that have similar masses. The sub-clusters have slammed through each other and traveled over one million light-years away from each other but will eventually come back together repeatedly until they finally merge.⁣

This process is messy, but it's helping us study the region. The cluster's extreme and concentrated mass curves light with its gravity, like how a glass lens bends and focuses light. This is gravitational lensing. Objects are magnified and their brightness is enhanced, so if they lie in exactly the right place, background galaxies and even individual stars that would have been far too faint and distant to spot will be made visible.⁣

#NASA #Galaxy #Astronomy

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## Tags

nasa, galaxy, astronomy

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